Horace Newton Allen (April 23, 1858 – December 11, 1932) was a
missionary
A missionary is a member of a religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thomas Hale 'On Being a Mi ...
,
physician
A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...
, and
American ambassador to Korea. He was the first
Protestant
Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...
missionary in Korea, arriving there on September 15, 1884.
After treating Min Young-ik, a royal relative injured during the
Gapsin Coup
The Gapsin Coup, also known as the Gapsin Revolution, was a failed three-day coup d'état that occurred in Korea during 1884. Korean reformers in the Enlightenment Party sought to initiate rapid changes within the country, including eliminatin ...
, Allen became close to the
king of Joseon
The Joseon dynasty ruled Korea, succeeding the 400-year-old Goryeo dynasty in 1392 through the Korea under Japanese rule, Japanese annexation in 1910. Twenty-seven monarchs ruled over united Korea for more than 500 years.
List of monarchs
See ...
,
Gojong. At his suggestion, Gojong founded the first western hospital,
Chejungwon (now known as
Severance Hospital
Severance Hospital is a teaching hospital located in Sinchon-dong, Seodaemun District, South Korea. It is one of the oldest and biggest university hospitals in South Korea. It has 2,437 beds and treats approximately 2,500,000 outpatients and 8 ...
). Allen was in charge of the core function of the hospital. A year after the establishment of the hospital, Allen started a medical school, which was the first formal western
medical education
Medical education is education related to the practice of being a medical practitioner, including the initial training to become a physician (i.e., medical school and internship) and additional training thereafter (e.g., residency, fellowship, ...
in Korea.
Due to Allen's relationship with the emperor and other officials, Allen became part of the United States Legation to Korea. He was appointed as secretary in 1890 and was promoted to US
minister and
consul general
A consul is an official representative of the government of one state in the territory of another, normally acting to assist and protect the citizens of the consul's own country, as well as to facilitate trade and friendship between the people ...
in 1897. However, Allen was recalled in 1905, over disagreements with the
United States government
The federal government of the United States (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the national government of the United States, a federal republic located primarily in North America, composed of 50 states, a city within a feder ...
regarding the
Taft-Katsura Agreement.
Biography
Horace Newton Allen was born in
Delaware, Ohio
Delaware is a city in and the county seat of Delaware County, Ohio, United States. Delaware was founded in 1808 and was incorporated in 1816. It is located near the center of Ohio, is about north of Columbus, and is part of the Columbus, Ohio ...
on April 23, 1858. He received his
Bachelor of Science
A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years.
The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University o ...
at
Ohio Wesleyan University in 1881. He studied medicine at the Miami Medical School in Cincinnati,
Ohio
Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...
, graduating in 1883.
Allen was appointed a medical missionary and sent to China by the Board of Foreign Missions of the
Northern Presbyterian Church and arrived in Shanghai on October 11, 1883. After a while, he decided to serve in Korea, which had just opened its doors to the western world. After obtaining the mission board's permission, he went to Korea on September 20, 1884 to explore. As government law prohibited foreign religion at the time, he was appointed medical officer of the United States Legation to Korea in Seoul, thus hiding his true identity. He went back to Shanghai to bring back his wife Francis "Fannie" and their son, Harry to Korea on October 26.
On December 4, 1884 the
Gapsin Coup
The Gapsin Coup, also known as the Gapsin Revolution, was a failed three-day coup d'état that occurred in Korea during 1884. Korean reformers in the Enlightenment Party sought to initiate rapid changes within the country, including eliminatin ...
, a coup d'état staged with the help of the Japanese army by a handful of elite progressive officials,.took place, The progressive government collapsed in 3 days as the Chinese army entered Seoul and defeated the Japanese army. This event started with the assassination attempt on the life of the queens nephew,
Min Young Ik, who was hosting a banquet to celebrate the opening of the nation's first postal office with dignitaries including foreign diplomats and he was inflicted with 7 severe sword wounds. Dr. Allen was summoned and treated Min's near mortal wounds, applying western medical methods against the objection of 14 of the court's medicine men. It is noted that wounds soon became infected and Dr. Allen treated the infected wounds with "baked mud" to absorb pus and wash away with water and it took 3 months before Dr. Allen's treatment on him was completed.
[Allen's Diary]
Upon hearing the wide spread rumor that a foreigner with bushy red beard revived a dead prince, many people flocked to his house. He seized this opportunity to serve Korean people and submitted to the Foreign Ministry "A proposal of founding a hospital for the government of His Majesty in Seoul Corea" with an introductory letter by J. C. Foulk, charge de' affair of the U.S. Legation. The king Gojong granted his proposal readily and a western hospital named
Gwang hye Won (廣惠院, House of Extended Grace) was opened in a traditional Korean estate on April 10, 1885. The name quickly was changed to
Chejungwon 제중원 the House of Universal Helpfulness. The hospital had 5 separate in-patient rooms, eye treatment room for extraction of cataracts, vaccination room for smallpox, etc. A year later, Dr. Allen, John William Heron and
Horace Underwood opened a medical school
"Medical and Scientific School of Royal Corean Hospital and admitted 16 medical students.
The adjoining school building had a large class room, a chemistry lab and 2 dormitory rooms.
It is noteworthy that since September 1894 the Board of Foreign Mission started to operate the nation's first western hospital and medical school in Korea and in September 1904 Chejungwon built a new ultra modern brick building outside the South Gate with help from Louis Severance, a philanthropist in Cleveland Ohio, moving patients from "the old to new buildings" on September 23. The invitation to the dedication of the building read "the New Chejungwon/Severance Hospital". For a while after the transition the popular daily newspaper Donga Ilbo called the new hospital "New Chejungwon" and government official document also referred the new hospital as Shin Chejungwon (New Chejungwon). The newly renamed Severance Hospital was the direct descendant of Chejungwon.
The Severance Hospital and Medical school on June 5, 1962 moved to a new location in Sinchon after building a huge medical complex which included the Eighth U.S. Army Memorial Chest Hospital as an integral part and a separate unit ($400,000 worth of building material and $70,000 for medical equipment as American Forces Aids to Korea Program 1955). This institution now is called Yonsei Health System, part of Yonsei University after union with Yonsei University on Jan 5, 1957.
Allen's post Chejungwon activities related to Korea are;
King Gojong of Korea asked Allen to help open the Korea Legation in United States of America and Allen led a 12-man delegation to Washington D. C. in November 1887 and established the Korean Legation in January 1888 when Minister Park J. Y presented appointment letter to President Cleveland. Allen helped operate the Korean Legation and carried out diplomatic activities (his position was "foreign secretary" "참찬관" ).
Upon his return from America he started working in July, 1890 as Secretary at the United States Legation in Seoul and left 15 years later in June 1905 as the Envoy Extraordinaire and the Minister Plenipotential before his successor Morgan closed the United States legation in November 1905.
Allen was decorated 3 times by King Gojong and the last one, the highest Tae Guk Order was donated to Yonsei Health System in 2015 by his great granddaughter Lydia Allen.
He died in
Toledo, Ohio
Toledo ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Lucas County, Ohio, United States. A major Midwestern United States port city, Toledo is the fourth-most populous city in the state of Ohio, after Columbus, Cleveland, and Cincinnati, and according ...
on December 11, 1932. He was buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in Toledo. Allen and his wife, Francis Ann "Fannie", had two sons, Horace Ethan "Harry" who in turn had 3 sons and Maurice who left no children. There are 5 surviving great grandchildren.
Dr. Allen's contribution to Korea:
1. Introduction of western medicine to Korea. 2. Opening the door to the proselytization of Christianity to Korea 3. Industrialization of Korea; arranging building a railroad system, trolley, electric company, etc. by American companies. 4. Faithful supporter of King Gojong and Korea.
Legacy and honors
*
Order of the Taegeuk 1st Class
Publication
Allen's writings introduced Korean literature to the English-speaking world.
His publications include:
*''Korean Tales'', (1889)
*''A Chronological Index of the Foreign Relations of Korea from the Beginning of the Christian Era to the Twentieth Century'', (1901)
*''Supplement'', (1903)
*''Things Korean'', (Seoul, 1908)
Popular culture
* Portrayed by
Sean Richard in the 2010
SBS TV series ''
Jejungwon''.
* Portrayed by Lorne Oliver in the 2018
tvN TVN may refer to:
* TVN (Australian TV channel), a former horse racing channel
* Televisión Nacional de Chile, a public broadcaster
* TVN (Indonesia), a former television station; predecessor of Rajawali Televisi
* TVN (Norway), or TVNorge, a comm ...
and
Netflix
Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fi ...
TV series ''
Mr. Sunshine''.
References
External links
Today in History – April 23at chi.lcms.org
* Horace Newton Allen (1908)
''Things Korean: A Collection of Sketches and Anecdotes, Missionary and Diplomatic''* Horace Newton Allen (1889)
''Korean Tales: Being a Collection of Stories Translated from the Korean Folk Lore''* Horace Newton Allen (1901)
''A Chronological Index: Some of the Chief Events in the Foreign Intercourse of Korea''*
The first Presbyterian missionaries in Korea
{{DEFAULTSORT:Allen, Horace Newton
1858 births
1932 deaths
People from Delaware, Ohio
American Presbyterian missionaries
Presbyterian missionaries in Korea
Ambassadors of the United States to Korea
19th-century American physicians
American political writers
American male non-fiction writers
Christian medical missionaries
Ohio Wesleyan University alumni
Yonsei University